Eagle Express Newsletter

December 1, 2021

From the Office

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday with many blessings and lots of time with family. We also hope you received some good information from your child’s teacher during Parent/Teacher Conferences.

Advent is here, and the students in grades ECE, and K-8 will be participating in weekly Advent prayer services on Wednesday mornings. As Pope Francis reminds us, “Advent is a continuous call to hope.” May you and your family feel the hope of the Advent season!

Congratulations to Mrs. Amanda Hanson, our 1st grade teacher, and her husband Justin on the birth of baby girl Blake Ivy last week! We are excited for the new addition to the Hanson and IHM family!

The substitute teaching shortage is affecting IHM, and I am still looking for a long-term sub for Mrs. Hanson’s maternity leave. In the meantime, I will be acting as the 1st grade teacher, so please be patient as my administrative duties may take a back-seat to the needs of the 1st grade students! If you know a great teacher who would like to be a substitute in our wonderful school, have them contact me!

Report Cards for Grades ECE and K-8 are available today! ECE will have paper reports in your child’s backpack. Grades K-8, log into your FACTs Family Portal to view the report cards (check after 5:00 pm tonight). Mrs. Meiller will also email a copy to your email address.

After hearing some parent concerns, I would like to ask that parents parking in the parking lot after school (not using the pick up line)  please use the Shore Acres entrance behind the school to enter the parking lot. Also, parents leaving the pick up line exiting the school ground should use the Shore Acres exit (instead of Schofield). There have been a couple of close calls of vehicles passing the line of cars waiting to pick up in order to enter the parking lot, and we would like to keep everyone safe and avoid accidents. Thank you!

Rather than a live performance and all of the complications that entails, Mrs. Binzak will be putting together a video performance of the IHM students for our Christmas Concert this year. We will share it in the last week before vacation starts. Look for it that week!

If you are still connected to the old IHM School Google calendar (the old calendar says “This calendar is no longer being updated”), there is an easy way to find the new calendar from your computer: go to your Google calendar, hit the plus button next to “Other Calendar”, click Subscribe to Calendar, and search for ihmcalendarmonona@gmail.com. This should work for most desktop and laptop computers. You can also follow the link below, or look for the calendar on your FACTs Parent Portal. For your particular mobile devices you may have to search how to complete this step. The old calendar will be removed in a few weeks, so please start now!

Catholic Schools provide a firm foundation for the growth and development of your child. Pray for a year filled with faith and learning. Let us be a community of service to one another and to our world. On behalf of Fr. Chad, the teachers and staff of Immaculate Heart of Mary School, God bless you for choosing Immaculate Heart of Mary School!

God Bless,
Callie Meiller, Principal

Office Reminders

• Masks at IHM will be mandatory until January 3rd, after that they will be optional but highly recommended. We especially recommend masking for two weeks after vacation until January 18th, in order to clear the possible 14-day incubation period after traveling and seeing family over the holidays.  If Dane county reinstates the mandate, we will need to follow it again, and if the situation changes we may need to reevaluate.

Please note that he Monona Grove 4K students will need to follow the policy of the Monona Grove School District regarding masking – masks mandatory until Jan. 11th at which time it will be reassessed. All staff with 4K will also be masked.

• Please send your child with two masks every day! Check right now to make sure they have an extra in their backpack!
• Long pants and tights/leggings under skirts are now required until April 1st. Thank you for sending your child dressed to keep warm while they are outside!
• Staff and students should not come to school if they have or develop:

1 or more of the following COVID-19 symptoms:

Cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, fever (or chills) above 100.4 within 24 hours, new loss of taste or smell, *Vomiting and/or Diarrhea* – is not a very common sign of COVID -19 but exclusion is advised until able to tolerate your normal diet 24 hrs after vomiting/diarrhea stopped.
2 or more of the following COVID-19 symptoms:

Congestion or runny nose, nausea, headache, fatigue, muscle or body aches, sore throat
If a student has 1 or more of the symptoms in the 1st list, or 2 or more of the symptoms in the second list, they should stay home until they are symptom-free without medication for 24-hours OR if they have a negative Covid test 6-7 days after symptoms start. Let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for keeping everyone healthy and safe!

•  Great Christmas Gift Idea! Use this site to order IHM Spirit Wear: https://ihm.socceretcdirect.com/index.php?route=common/home. Click on “School Delivery” under Delivery Method, orders will be delivered to IHM, and we will send them home with your child as soon as we receive them!  If you add a name to the bottom of the order, where it says “Name if applicable,” it will add your that name to the piece of clothing. Please note that personalized items cannot be returned, so make sure your sizing is correct.

Thank You!

Many thanks to all of the parents, students, and staff who supported the IHM School Library and Classrooms by purchasing books from the Book Fair!

HSA News

Please remember to order your holiday gift SCRIP  early. If we do not stock it, we will have to order it in, and that will take a few weeks. Please plan accordingly, and email ihmhsa@gmail.com with questions.

IHM Basketball Schedule

Saturday, Dec. 4

8:00     6th Grade Boys at IHM

9:15      8th Grade Girls at IHM

10:30     7th Grade Boys at IHM

This week’s links (at the bottom of this email)

IHM Specials Update

German Market Field Trip Permission Form – 6th,7th, 8th Grades also in hard copy

St. Ambrose Flyer for 8th Grade families

High School options for 8th Graders flyer

This week’s hard copies (in your child’s backpack)

German Market Field Trip Permission Form – 6th,7th, 8th Grades also linked below